Mako Shade
by Element's Sole Protector
Summary: Tifa and Cloud dwell on the significance of blue. Cloud/Tifa.
1. Lost in the Tide

I don't know _what_ to call this. I was thinking _drabble_, but...

_But_ it IS my first (finally) Cloud/Tifa pairing, and so I shall treat it with reverence. It is divided into five short scenes that are connected—I separated them for reasons I can't even explain.

Without further ado, here is the first.

* * *

_Lost in the Tide_...

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* * *

_

Sometimes Tifa played with his hair while he was asleep. It wasn't for any particular, obsessive love of it---she did it only so that she might see his eyes open.

Blue. Mako blue.

_Had they been a different color before?_ she wondered, as he shifted away from her tickling fingers. Had they, or had she once been ignorant, even oblivious, of their seductive power?

Every morning she would torture his spikes in some way, and then Cloud would gradually wake--his eyes would blink, slowly open, and fix upon her...and Tifa would happily sink back under the tide of his blue eyes...


	2. Remembrance

And here is the second part. Just thought I'd add in... this story-of-sorts is connected to an upcoming one, which is a companion to _Only A Remnant_--so if anyone liked that, this is like its distant cousin until the connecting-story comes.

* * *

_Rememberance_...

* * *

Sometimes he would find rivers of Mako, streaming in and out of alleys and on faraway hills and through the fingers of small children like Denzel and Marlene. Small, pretty things.

He did not tell Tifa about them.

Cloud knew instinctively that she loved the sky-ocean, deep blue of his eyes, and would have done anything to make her eyes the same color--even bathe herself in the Mako he and Zack had been forced into.

He kept his peace, especially on the nights when they were snuggled together on the couch, trading kisses and sights of old friends who had moved outside the city limits.

"See any Mako on your rides?" she'd ask, with a sigh in her voice that said she already knew the answer.

"Not even a little," he'd reply after a moment of silence, stroking her chocolate hair. "And if I did, you know I'd leave it alone. Nothing good comes from it."

"I know..."

But Cloud knew that she did not. She still secretly longed to be able to reciprocate that blue, as if _she_ were the one wo needed to make up for everything... _everything_...

_Tifa doesn't have to remember how I got this significant blue. It may be striking, but it's not safe. It's best if no one finds that stuff again..._

He would close the matter within his mind, and try to close his eyes when he kissed--for both his savoring and their safety.


	3. One Shade Missing

Here is Part Three. Hope you enjoy--it's not my fav, but I like its shortness.

I do not own Final Fantasy VII. I _wish_ I owned it, though... (little sigh)

* * *

_One Shade Missing_...

* * *

She had nightmares for the next week, ones in which Aeris came to her and scolded her for ignoring Cloud's feelings, then took him away into darkness. She would wake sobbing next to Cloud, who would comfort her gently. The Mako blue only showed compassion and tenderness then, ignorant of her dreams, when they had not.

Tifa would pull out a stray easel the day after a nightmare and paint shapes until her mind blessedly emptied. All the shapes were blue but were different shades than the one that had captured her heart. Yes, Tifa had the color, but--no--she could not bear to paint it.

Until...

Until one day she had to, when Denzel and Marlene, acting rather strangely, discovered her blue painting and pointed to the unused, Mako-colored paint. Whispered, innocently enough: "There's one shade missing, Aunt Tifa."

_One shade missing...?_

The moment her paintbrush hesitantly grazed the paint, she felt a mysterious chill; she dropped the brush and raced from the room. She knew now. She had it. She knew the way to finally tell Cloud _I love you_, snap him out of his sadness, maybe get a rare smile...

She bumped into him. Fiercely.

_Oops._

"Cloud!"

_Stop. Pant. Breathe._

"Cloud, I...have something to tell you..."


	4. Something to Tell You

The second-to-last part is here!

* * *

_Something to Tell You_...

* * *

He glanced upward. Denzel and Marlene were eavesdropping on the stairs; Tifa was getting her breath back in front of him; and he sensed the presences of Aeris and Kadaj above somewhere, or near, watching.

"Yes, Tifa?"

"Remember everything you said last week?"

"I do."

She smiled at him, showing him the chocolate-ruby gaze he loved and treasured beyond any shade of blue. He had no way of knowing what she'd say next...

But when she finished, he smiled.


	5. The Right Words

Last part!

(whispers) And the shortest, so I wonder if it will be accepted?

After this I shall bow out--not as gracefully as I could if I legally owned any part of this, but whatever...

* * *

_The Right Words_...

* * *

Tifa smiled too, later. It _had_ been the right thing to say.

"_You know, something good_ did_ come out of gaining Mako, once..._"


End file.
